One for another thread I know, but why do leg-spinners never get reported for a dodgy action? I know that you couldn't straighten the arm at the point of release as an off-spinner might, but could the arm start straight and then bend as it comes over? I would think that's quite common with the googly. Or would there be no advantage in that?

Apparently Shane Warne, amongst all his other talents, was able to chuck his leg break

Piyush Chawla is doing exactly what I was talking about, bowling spin along with medium paced deliveries in between with the same action,he has been doing it since 4 5 matches now,
Just look at his bowling speed in the video, and look at Uthappa's reaction:-)

Piyush Chawla is doing exactly what I was talking about, bowling spin along with medium paced deliveries in between with the same action,he has been doing it since 4 5 matches now,
Just look at his bowling speed in the video, and look at Uthappa's reaction:-)

Hasn't made an impact in international cricket yet though... will be interesting to see how he develops, still just 24.

Yap, but this style of bowling will really help, I think the quick deliveries which he is bowling will make the batsmen a bit cautious while playing him, they won't step down the wicket pretty often and keep guessing the quicker ball.

He needs to be a bit smart in using it, its fine if he bowls one of them every over in limited overs cricket or if he uses them even more depending on the pitch, but in the longer version of the game, he needs to limit its use, if he bowls it very often than the batsmen will be over defensive while playing him and he'll not be able to pick wickets regularly.

Has anyone mentioned Mendis yet? Does he qualify as medium pace spin? Have to admit he flattered to decieve when he 1st came on the scene and I fell for him. Had visions of a great spin bowling career to entertain all of us for the next 15 or so years. I'm not sure if people started to pick him or if he got injured which restricted his variety. All the same still a decent bowler and would like to see him playing a few more tests.

Has anyone mentioned Mendis yet? Does he qualify as medium pace spin? Have to admit he flattered to decieve when he 1st came on the scene and I fell for him. Had visions of a great spin bowling career to entertain all of us for the next 15 or so years. I'm not sure if people started to pick him or if he got injured which restricted his variety. All the same still a decent bowler and would like to see him playing a few more tests.

Mendis should not be near a test team unless you are talking about a side like NZ or ZIM who have poor spinners. His finger flick spun stuff are not hard spun breaks. He should be an off break bowler who bowls flat off breaks with carom balls, or should be a inswing bowler, who bowls caroms on and off. Carom ball is never a stock ball. If you want it to be, then it should be a front of the hand leg break which uses fourth finger. His failure or big headedness not to understand the fact has cost him his place.

Member of the Sanga fan club. (Ugh! it took me so long to become a real fan of his)

Bowling medium pace is like takin an iron off the tee. Why bowl dibbly dobblers when you can either hurt someone or do them with flight?

How does it feel when you can spin it hard and still can hurt them?

Last of the kind for my knowledge was Jayananda Warnaweera. Gave it a rip and bowled it around 100-105k mark and spun it both ways. He was a bastard, making many conflicts with the administrators, otherwise would have been a great spinner. Looked genuinely scary on wearing tracks, and Salim Malik's balls will be telling the story for us.

Last of the kind for my knowledge was Jayananda Warnaweera. Gave it a rip and bowled it around 100-105k mark and spun it both ways. He was a bastard, making many conflicts with the administrators, otherwise would have been a great spinner. Looked genuinely scary on wearing tracks, and Salim Malik's balls will be telling the story for us.

by medium paced spin bowler, i don't mean a slightly quick spin bowler like mendis, i mean a bowler who has the resources of a medium pacer as well as a spinner, it is possible to have an in between run up from which you can bowl medium pace as well as spin.

If a bowler can mixup his spin bowling along with his medium pace in swing out swing deliveries, then he can be a headache for any batsman, why do such bowlers don't exist?? especially with the shorter formats around??

Perhaps you are asking about the type of bowlers that you had during the era of uncovered pitches - Bobby Appleyard, Sid Barnes, Derek Shackleton. The only recent such bowler that clicks is the now-banned Pakistani bowler Muhammad Asif who would start bowling faster - touching 130kph odd but during his best spells would bowl around 120 kph and cut and seam the ball prodigiously. Again, he was not entirely in the category of Appleyard and the likes as he cut the ball rather than spin it.

Chris Harris of New Zealand used to bowl in such a manner, bowling quickish leg-breaks. Sajeeva DeSilva, the former Sri Lanka medium pacer, bowler such deliveries in some tests, more markedly in the Asian Championship Final at Dhaka in 1999 against Pakistan with limited success.

The advent of covered pitches has ended this type of bowler. However, the same was predicted for finger-spinners as well and they did struggle but managed to hold their own. A genuine medium-paced spin bowler could still be a handful but the momentum seems to be against this type of bowling and has been so for a while.

As someone who bowls medium pace, I find that it's incredibly useful at frustrating and confusing even very decent batsmen early on in their innings. But as soon as they adjust, the party's over and you need to be brought off for the quicks again.

But it is sad to see it somewwhat diminished as an art in tests. On a surface that gives something back, it's a real test of technique.